Who are we kidding? Blinded by hate, Israel's enemies will never relent

By
Richard Z. Chesnoff

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I've been reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict for more than 42 years and I've
just come to a horrifying but unavoidable conclusion: Nothing has changed - and
probably nothing can change - Israel's enemies' fanatic refusal to accept her
right to exist. It is simply too deeply ingrained in the psychology of the
region.

It was loud and clear in Arab capitals back in the '60s, and today it remains
the driving force in most of the Islamic world. Israel's latest battles repeat
the story. Why would Hezbollah murder and kidnap Israeli soldiers without
provocation? Why were thousands of Iranian and Syrian-made missiles lobbed from
Lebanon onto Israeli cities and towns? Why are Palestinian rockets still landing
on Israeli homes and villages? What do these people want?

The answer is simple: Israel's destruction. These Muslim madmen will never stop
their murderous war of terror against Israel, just as England's thwarted jihadi
bombers will keep trying to blow up airlines and trains
and office buildings in their worldwide struggle to spread "the true word."

It is a twisted form of a noble religion, and it defies Western logic - because
the Muslim world would gain far more by cooperating with Israel. Consider what's
been accomplished by Israel, the only non-Islamic sliver in the vast lands that
lie between Pakistan and Morocco. With less than 1/1000th of the world's
population, Israel boasts a $100 billion economy larger than all of its
immediate neighbors combined, the highest ratio of university degrees and
museums to population in the world, and some of the world's finest medical,
scientific and high-tech research facilities.

Most vital: despite nearly constant war, Israel has absorbed, built homes and
provided jobs for millions of Jewish immigrants - 800,000 of them refugees from
Arab countries.

Now consider the sorry record in the Arab world. Illiteracy and disease still
reign supreme. In the year since Israel left Gaza, the Palestinians have
accomplished next to nothing.
Where are the housing projects for Palestinian refugees? What happened to the
network of high-tech hothouses the Palestinians inherited from Israeli settlers?
Most have been vandalized or neglected into ruin.

After 60 years, Gaza's Palestinians continue to whine, live off the global dole
and put their efforts into building rockets instead of a future for themselves.
They teach their children that Jews are "apes," Christians are "swine" and
Israel should be wiped off the map.

At a royal banquet in Jordan recently, I sat next to the sophisticated editor of
one of the Mideast's most influential Arab dailies. He spoke of how "most
thinking Arabs" understand that some kind of "pragmatic peace" must be
maintained with Israel.

But when I asked the man - the epitome of a "thinking Arab" - if he believed
Israel had a legitimate historical place in the Middle East, he was shocked. "Do
you expect us to be Zionists?" he asked rather scornfully.

Might not be a bad idea. At least fewer Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli
children would die - and the Arab world might have something it doesn't have
today: hope.

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JWR contributor and veteran journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff is a contributing correspondent at US News & World Report, a columnist at the NY Daily News and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Demoracies. A two-time winner of the Overseas Press Club Award and a recipient of the National Press Club Award, he was formerly executive editor of Newsweek International. His latest book, is "The Arrogance of the French: Why They Can't Stand Us & Why The Feeling Is Mutual". (Click on cover above to purchase. Sales help fund JWR. )